Patrol Boat 41, 'Worker' – Pride of Wŏnsan

ChieftainWarrior · August 25, 2024, 8:34pm

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Patrol Boat 41, ‘Worker’

TL;DR: North Korea’s first indigenous ship, armed with one 76mm and two 37mm cannons.

History
After Japan’s surrender in 1945, Korea was immediately split down the 38th parallel into two occupied zones – the Soviet Union in the North, and the USA in the South. While there were attempts at unified governance, such as the establishment of the People’s Republic of Korea – a network of people’s committees across the peninsula –, they were short-lasting, and the two superpowers continued to disagree on the future of the country. In 1950, full-scale war broke out.

The newly founded Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) had virtually no navy during the war, relying on basic Soviet torpedo boats, as well as a variety of civilian boats converted to military use as impromptu gunboats.

Following the signing of the Korean Armistice in 1953, the DPRK sought to re-equip its navy (the Korean People’s Navy, KPN or KPANF) and replace its dated inventory. This involved – to begin with – importing Soviet and Chinese ships, before transitioning to domestically-produced ships beginning around the 1960s and essentially halting imports, following the principles of Juche (self-reliance).

According to North Korean sources, however, their very first domestically-produced ship was built at Wŏnsan Shipyard in 1949, just before the outbreak of war. This ship is named ‘Worker’ (로동자) and is of an all-steel construction. It has only been seen a few times, and appears to have been scrapped or taken out of service, last being definitively sighted and dated to a film in 1982.

According to Kim Il Sung’s memoirs, the vessel was almost completed by August 30 1949, with only ‘finishing touches’ left. One rumour circulating online regarding the origin of this ship is that it was derived from an ex-Japanese minelayer. This boat was launched in 1939, and had the number 1216 in Imperial Japanese service. South Korea obtained the ship in 1946, and it entered service as JMS ‘Tongcheon’ 311 in 1947. North Korea captured it in 1948, and it is this ship that could have served as inspiration for ‘Worker.’

There a number of reasons to doubt these claims though. While an initial glance shows some similarities, such as the single funnel behind the bridge, there are more differences than not. The significantly different bridge, much lower deck on the Japanese ship, and dimensions that don’t match North Korean figures all point to this not accurately explaining the origins of Patrol Boat 41.

YA_PG_20180510_01000183100007524

JMS 308, a ship of the same class, in South Korean service

More evidence points to the construction date of 1949 being incorrect. Firstly, it should be noted that Kim Il Sung’s memoir was published in 1992, and is likely to be rife with changes for the sake of propaganda. Secondly, private conversations between Kim Il Sung and Joseph Stalin reveal that Stalin was informed there were only small shipyards in 1949:

Comrade Stalin asks whether there are any shipyards in Korea abandoned by the Japanese, such as in Seishin or other places in Korea.

Kim Il Sung replies that there are no shipyards.

Comrade Shtikov reports that there are shipyards, but only small ones.

“Загадочная война: корейский конфликт 1950–1953 годов.”
“Mysterious War: The Korean Conflict 1950-1953”

Certainly not what you would report if you could build a fairly large all-steel ship at one of them. Adding to this, in a number of reports, the CIA talks about the state of Wŏnsan shipyard. In 1946, Wŏnsan shipyard and the Soviet Navy signed a contract to complete the 20 half-finished Japanese ships left at the shipyard by 1947. Only 12 were completed by May 1947, and the remainder of the order was cancelled. In future, the Soviet navy rejected ships from the yard because of poor quality – it should be noted all of these ships were wooden, not steel. During 1948, 15 Soviet naval vessels, alongside some Korean fishing boats, were repaired.

In 1948, North Korea began a two-year program to restore their existing industrial facilities to their former standard, and to build new facilities to help exceed the production level attained by the Imperial Japanese during WW2. Part of this included work at Wŏnsan and other shipyards to be able to produce vessels for the KPN. In 1949, construction of a 1000t dock and slipway for 1000t vessels at Wŏnsan was underway.

By 1950, it was reported that the Wŏnsan shipyard had converted all of its peacetime shipbuilding operations into the repairing of Soviet naval ships and North Korean coast guard ships.

All of the above information suggests that, while the construction of new ships was planned and work on upgrading the facilities was underway, the quality of the few wooden ships that were produced was poor, and it had been transformed fully into a repair facility by the outbreak of war in 1950. None of this indicates that construction of a large, all-steel vessel could have reasonably taken place.

A closer look at Patrol Boat 41 instead reveals that it looks remarkably similar to the Soviet Pr. 201 (NATO codename: S.O.-1) submarine chaser, that had its first two prototypes constructed in 1955. The USSR built 10 more under the name Pr. 201K from 1957-1958, with an increased displacement, simpler engines, and altered armament. Two more variants followed, with 242 Pr. 201Ms being built, and 18 Pr.201Ts. 62 Pr. 201Ms were exported to various countries, including the DPRK in the early 1960s, of an unknown number.

Shortly afrer receiving their Pr. 201s, sometime in the mid-to-late 60s, we know that the DPRK constructed around twelve indigenous variants, outfitted with better main weaponry at the cost of its ASW weaponry – known in Western sources as the Tŭngsan’got- and Chodo-classes, as well as a few examples that don’t neatly fit into those classes.

'worker' 41 model 2

Side view of Patrol Boat 41 1:10 scale model

Not only does Patrol Boat 41 look much closer to the Pr. 201 than the Japanese tugboat, the specifications provided by North Korea match more closely. There are still differences, of course, such as the beam of the ship (Patrol Boat 41 being close to 1m narrower) and the presence of the funnel. These can simply be explained by Patrol Boat 41 being the first produced copy of the Pr. 201, with changes that North Korea experimented with, that were then eliminated on the more refined copies of the Tŭngsan’got- and Chodo-class. Equally, the inclusion of the funnel could still be related to the ex-Japanese tugboat, just with construction happening close to two decades later than North Korea states.

Initially, Patrol Boat 41 was numbered 41, but it appears the ship has undergone multiple rounds of changes, being renumbered to 8030 sometimes before at least 1982 (and possibly just 030 at some point), as well as 9008, likely after that. The current status of the ship is unknown.

Characteristics
Patrol Boat 41’s main armament is a Soviet 76.2mm (3 inch) obr. 1931 or obr. 1938, also known as the 3-K (for the 1931 variant). This is located on a (likely) semi-rotatable platform, with a gun-shield around the front and sides, not the roof or rear. The 76mm 3-K can fire APHEBC, HE and HE-TF rounds – its APHEBC rounds have 119mm of penetration at 100m. The gun can fire relatively quickly, with a maximum rate of fire of 5s on the land-based YaG-10 (29-K) in-game.

worker front cannon

Image taken on the deck of Patrol Boat 41, with the 76mm cannon visible in the background

The aft of the ship has two mounts for 37mm 61-K cannons. These guns have a fire rate of 160 rpm, and can fire HE, AP and HVAP rounds. The AP and HVAP rounds penetrate 68mm and 82mm at 100m respectively. The ship – in its original specification – has two 12.7mm DShKs on the platform just behind the bridge, one on either side. In a later configuration, these are replaced with two dual 14.5mm cannons.

12.7mm DShKs behind the bridge

Dual 14.5mm cannons in the background

North Korea give the length as 42.3m, the beam as 5.3m, and the displacement as 235t. As mentioned above in the History section, this is quite close to the Pr. 201M, which has a length of 41.9m, a beam of 6.1m and a full displacement of 216t. If we assume that Patrol Boat 41 was indeed derived from the Pr. 201, then it likely has three 40DM diesel engines, providing a total output of 6600 hp, and enabling the ship to reach speeds around 27 knots (50 km/h).

Conclusion
Patrol Boat 41, regardless of whether it was built in 1949 or the 1960s, was North Korea’s first indigenous patrol boat (and naval ship in general) and paved the way for all future KPN developments, and an important vehicle for a future coastal tree for North Korea, as either a sub-tree for China’s future fleet, or as part of a United Korean tree. It is able to be added in two variants, differing only in machine gun armament, and would very likely sit at a BR of around 2.7-3.0.

Specifications

General
Displacement: 235t
Engine: 6600bhp
Top Speed: 27 knots (50 km/h)
Crew: >28
Armament:
Main Armament
1x 76mm M1931/M1938

AA Armament
2x 37mm 61-K
2x 12.7mm DShK; OR 2x dual 14.5mm KPV
Sensors and Systems:
Donets-NM/Donets-2MN Navigation Radar

Images

Spoiler

Various other angles of the 1:10 scale model (ignore the red circle)

Worker model plaque

Plaque underneath the model. Reads:
“The guard ship “Worker” seen by the great leader Comrade Kim Il-sung
(Scale 1:10)
August 30, Juche 38 (1949)”

76mm and the only actual photograph of ‘Worker’ numbered 41

‘Worker’ renumbered to 8030

‘Worker’ numbered as 8030 in a film from 1982

'worker'? 030

‘Worker’ supposedly numbered 030

'worker' artwork

(Inaccurate) propaganda artwork of ‘Worker’ as 8030 – details are wrong, and it shows the ship with three 37mm cannons instead of two. Soho-class frigate in the background.

'worker' 9008